Jump Trading LLC, was all but invisible until it was among six companies subpoenaed in April by New York prosecutors. Jump has ascended the ranks of high-frequency traders during the past 15 years to become one of the top firms on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

The CFTC and its enforcement division are reviewing trading practices in the futures market to ensure they aren’t manipulative, Wetjen said. The agency is also reviewing relationships between exchanges and trading firms, he said.

Critics including some regulators and market participants say that HFT trading, which captured the spotlight in the May 2010 flash crash, serves little purpose, may distort the market and leaves retail investors at a disadvantage.

On the 25th anniversary of the 1987 stock-market crash, traders are once again trying to find something to believe in. While oil toils and precious metals falter the heating oil-gasoline spread continues to rock.